Pilchard

My '91 Accord started leaking power steering fluid. I've gotten 2 opinions, both mechanics looked at it carefully and say it's the rack. It's leaking from 2 places (the boot at one end and near one of the lines at the other).

After I bought the car, the power steering fluid resevoir was about an inch below the minimum line. I don't think I checked the level before I bought it.

I replaced the fluid with regular, non-Honda fluid.
I didn't want to drive it anymore without fluid, and I didn't have Honda fluid available. Since then (about 1 month ago), I've learned that wasn't a good idea.

Could it be a huge coincidence, or did I really ruin the rack? They say that's what can happen... I wish I would've known that before! It will be a very expensive lesson

Does anyone know how it ruins it? Something about the seals?
Is it ruined for good now that it's leaking, or if I flush it out and put the Honda fluid in, will it "fix" it? (wishful thinking!!)

What's in those "power steering fluid leak stopper" fluids? Do they work? Are they bad? Could I get away with that until I save about $1000? If the rack is bad anyway, they can't hurt that... but what about the pump or anything else?

Thank you so much for helping me, I really need it!

Pilchard

anyone?

JimBlake

I don't know exactly what's different about Honda PS fluid, but if you simply added a couple onces then I bet something else did the damage. Why don't you try a couple drain/fill cycles to put the right stuff in there? Whaddya got to loose?

Filthy Focker!

Who says that? Honda????

You did not ruin anything. Powersteering fluid is Powersteering fluid. Thing i used to do when my rack was leaking like crap on my car was to put in tranny fluid. Thicker and will not leak as much. Hell cheaper too...

I think it was just a coincidence.....

fs

JimBlake

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by filthy_shovel &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Who says that? Honda????</TD></TR></TABLE>Even when you go to WallyMart or AutoZoned, look on the shelf there's brandX PS fluid for everyone EXCEPT Honda, then there's the same brand stuff "For HONDA".

Still, if he only added a couple ounces, it sounds like a coincidence.

Filthy Focker!

The only problem i would see would be that it could eat up the seals on the pinion or maybe the end seals of the rack. But that would take quite a while to do. Hell, even mixing dot 5 and dot 3 brake fluid together will take up to a year before damage happens. I don't see the problem with mixing ps fluid for different applications...

As a rule though, i always use the proper fluid for an application just to make sure i don't get into this problem and have comebacks.

fs

Pilchard

Thanks for the help!

I heard somewhere that Honda/Acura uses mineral oil among other things, and most others use petroleum; some German cars use synthetic.

I'm not sure if it's a coincidence. It did take about 4-6 weeks to start leaking. And any mechanic I called to get an estimate for the rack wouldn't believe me that it was the rack; they all said that wasn't very common, especially for my car; they thought it was the lines (over the phone).

Also, I think Honda only specifies Honda fluid for power steering and transmission fluid; is that right? Why would they do that for no reason? If it was to make money, wouldn't they specify Honda-only brake fluid, etc. etc.?

Although you're right, it was only a few ounces or so.

For some reason, it hasn't been leaking as much the last 2 days. Probably the weather or something. I did take it to get the old stuff out, and they flushed it a bit and re-filled it with Honda fluid.

I'm also very happy because I went to PartSource (I don't know if that's only a Canadian company?) and they quoted me a much lower price for a rebuilt rack with a LIFETIME guaranty - about $350 Canadian (about US $275) (in exchange for my old rack).

That makes sense to me, because I knew a used rack was about $150; and if a rebuilt one was about $550, the difference is $400. I was looking for a place that would rebuild MINE; the only place I found was too far away, but it was just $300. So if they take my rack, they can rebuild that and sell it for a profit. Everyone's happy!

91exaccord

The difference in the fluid is that the honda fluid has a silicon product in it. This helps the seals from leaking. Also like tranny fluid regular power steering fluid, in comparison to most fluids is gritty like it contains sand. So I would say that most likely you did wreck the pump by putting none honda fluid in. And flushing it out or putting in the stop leak probably wouldn't help much.